Sometimes you have to just go with the latest viral video. This one is from Campus Reform. Students from George Mason University rank the various scandals from the Obama Administration a la “March Madness” style.

The most telling moment is when one student proclaims; “It’s pretty incredible actually, I didn’t realize how many scandals were going on.”

I have several times referenced the devotional blog, 843 Acres. It is published online five days per week, and includes a very brief devotional on a biblical text. The devotional for February 12th gave me pause. I’d love to interact with it here, with our readers. In it, the question was asked:

“How can we live together with people whose beliefs, practices, and views deeply distress or offend us? How do we relate to them, care for them, and even love them?”

We spend a lot of time on this blog dealing with ‘beliefs, practices and views’ which ‘deeply distress or offend us’. But we don’t spend a lot of time talking about how to deal with those beliefs as Christians, when we encounter them in the individuals of our daily lives.

Our government’s decisions as a result of the infamous “Shutdown” have had my blood on a slow boil all week. But this is Sunday, and I don’t want to be political today.

[But did you hear about the civilian priests who have government contracts to minister to the military? They are forbidden access to military bases during the shutdown–even if they are volunteering their time to say Mass for Catholic service men and women. Ugh. There goes my blood again.] Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking about bullying quite a lot, because my granddaughter’s current favorite Pixar film is A Bug’s Life.

In this entomological retelling of The Magnificent Seven, a group of hired “tough bugs” (actually rejects from a flea circus) are supposed to fight back on behalf of ant citizens who are sick of the protection racket they’ve been forced into by the local grasshopper thugs.

Seriously, it’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t heard of him. Even if you never followed the music, you should certainly remember his much heralded and well-reported missions to Africa.

What you MIGHT have missed were 2 recent stories about Bono: The Christian, and its powerful sequel, Bono: The Capitalist.

On June 25th, Bono was a guest on the “Focus on the Family” radio program. The entire interview is definitely worth reading, but this one excerpt stood out to me (emphasis mine):

Jim Daly of FOTF: So often those that struggle with accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior — it’s the idea that He’s the Messiah. In fact, you were asked about that by a journalist. How did you respond to that?

Bono: Jesus doesn’t let you off the hook. The Scriptures don’t let you off the hook so easily. So, Jesus died on a cross with “King of the Jews,” as the Messiah. In fact, if He’d just given that bit up, you know, [He] would not have had the crucifixion. And Pilate was saying it’s unnecessary. Everyone was, “this is kind of mad.” Because when people say, you know, “good teacher,” “prophet,” “really nice guy,” and this is nothow Jesus thought of Himself.

So, you’re left with a challenge in that, which is either: Jesus was who He said He was, or a complete and utter nut case. You have to make a choice on that.

And I believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

Wow…

I’d actually heard about this a few weeks back while listening to our local K-LOVE affiliate. Then I turned on the local news, …then the “other” MSM stations, …Radio, …TV, …

***insert sound of crickets chirping here***

Hmmm, why wouldn’t they report such a thing?

Oh. Yeah:

I guess Bono just didn’t “come out” with the appropriate type of news that fit the predetermined, MSM narrative.

***sigh***

Then one morning, I woke up to the following clip on ‘Fox and Friends’. The actual speech is nearly an hour in length (you can see it all HERE), but this segment really struck me:

Isn’t this news? In our hyper media-ized world, everything a celebrity says, does, wears or buys at the store is news these days. And here we have Bono, …BONO!…, saying in effect that Aid is a stop-gap, only, and Capitalism takes far more people out of poverty than Aid does.

***crickets begin chirping again, louder this time***

No matter.

This message will still get out, whether or not the press ignores it. As a result, some folks will actually be inspired to examine these topics, perhaps for the first time. Minds which have heretofore been closed to the inherent truths of both Christianity and Capitalism will be opened.